My extended stay in America has been fabulous. The repeated failure of Greyhound to take me home has resulted in a complimentary voucher for the next time I travel, and extra time for me to spend with my boyfriend and other NH lovelies. I’ve been here since December 5th, and don’t leave for home until tomorrow. I’m already eager to return for New Years Eve.

With that said, I can never get my brain to stop with the many blog possibilities. I was hesitant to post about this almost daily winter-time love of mine, because I fear the cruelty-free status of this product is questionable. If anyone has any information on the cruelty-free status of Gosh Cosmetics – feel free to comment below!

Peta still continues to list them on their Companies That Don’t Test list, however, when I click on the link to their site (GoshAmericas.com), I get a generic “page cannot be found” message. They still exist at Gosh.dk (their Danish website), so I am hoping they are undergoing some sort of overhaul on their American website.

Their Much More Moist! Conditioner is a product I’ve used in the colder months, when just using apple cider vinegar or white vinegar as a rinse won’t cut it. The product includes ingredients like seaweed, honey, and hyaluronic acid. It’s got a unique smell to it – kind of.. vegetable-y? I am not sure if I’m smelling the beet root in it, or what.

I use a small amount of this conditioner (which comes in a convenient pump, and lasts just about forever), on the ends of my hair, and leave it in for about 3-5 minutes in the shower. It leaves my hair so soft and looking lovely. It has a relatively short list of ingredients, which I prefer to the extensive lists I see in many cosmetics / skin care products. It often goes on sale at Shoppers Drug Mart for $7-8. If you’ve got dry hair, and would prefer not to go without conditioner, I’d suggest you check this out 🙂

I’ve had a mild nail polish obsession (I say mild because I can usually talk myself down to buying only two or three if there is a big sale) for the past few years or so. I remember when it began. I was searching for a pretty colour or two, and stumbled upon my old dried up and stale nail polish collection from my teens. None of it was wearable, and most resembled old trends (but crackle polish is back!), and I preferred to begin anew.

I have tried many brands, from low-end to high end. I definitely have my preferences, and today I would like to reveal to all of you my absolutely favourite brand of nail polish. They are my favourite because for several reasons: price, their polish consistency, ease of application, how long-lasting they are, and choice of colours. And of course, the most important thing: they must be cruelty-free!

There is much debate over whether it is okay for us cruelty-free supporters to buy from companies that used to test but no longer do, or if they did not test for most of their history but were recently bought out by a company that does, or if they have constantly gone back and forth with regards to their animal testing policy. I will support a company who used to test, and has changed their ways, but do not feel I could trust a company (Essie, for example, whose colour selection I absolutely love!) that was bought out by a company that is well-known for conducting animal testing. In that case, the company simply can no longer be trusted to maintain their test-free policy. Here is some information about L’Oreal’s purchase of Essie that I found on Fashionista.com. I do love Essie’s colour selection, as I mentioned, but am not a big fan of the nail polish it self (at least on me). It isn’t the easiest for application, and at $11.99 here per bottle, I definitely expect something better.

my humble nail polish collection (which includes Revlon, Essie, OPI, Orly, Nyx, NYC, GOSH, and Seche) - some polishes are from brands I no longer support, but did at the time because of their animal testing policy.

The brand I am currently raving about, and have been raving about to my friends and family since I started using it is not OPI (who I recently discovered was bought by a testing company – at this lovely blog), not Spa Ritual, not Revlon, not Zoya, but GOSH Cosmetics!

I purchased my first GOSH nail products from Shoppers Drug Mart (they are in their own section away from the other polishes) several months ago. There was an awesome sale that lasted for about 2-3 weeks ($5 per polish!), so I got my pick of polishes. I don’t have a ton of them yet, but I definitely took advantage of the $5 sale. While GOSH does not have a massive collection of colours like nail giants Essie, OPI, or Revlon, the colours they do have are gorgeous, and really stand out. Their polishes often only require one coat of polish, at most two! They dry very quickly, and and since I only have to apply one to two coats, I definitely find the polish stays on longer and is less likely to chip!

I tend to prefer cream polishes over shimmer or glitter polishes, but GOSH has some unique shimmer colours. #540 Ocean, for example, is a majestic swirl of greens and blues, and really does remind me of the ocean. #550 Purple Heart reminds me of an oil slick. It has tones of purple, blue, and green, depending on how it is reflecting the light! My least favourite of the bunch would be #567 Metallic Green. It is a good quality polish, but I have not had the same urge to use it like I have the others!

On top of GOSH’s polishes being my absolute favourite, they are also formaldehyde, and toluene-free!